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| Job by Job - New Mexico Is Seeing Growth |
November 03, 2003 |
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Dear Friends,
One of my rules of public service is that any day out of the office is a good day. One of the best parts of this job is that I get to be out and about the community learning what people and companies are doing and how what we are doing in the federal government affects them.
Last week, we were all encouraged by the news that in the third quarter of this year the economy grew by a blistering 7 percent -- more than any quarter for sixteen years. That`s great news driven in large part by the one time tax rebates, but we can`t let up now.
Heather tours Desert Paper & Envelope with founder Orvis Creel and BELOW talks with his daughter, Ella Leeper, who now runs the family business.
While I watch the numbers on the economy pretty closely for the state and the nation, our small businesses are the engines of economic growth. Last week, I got out to visit a few more.
When Orvis Creel started Desert Paper and Envelope in 1976, he knew he had a nitch to serve. As a printer, he knew what a hassle it is to print envelopes. So, he set up a shop to do just envelopes and do subcontract work with all the printers in town. He didn`t have any idea just how big the company would get. His daughter, Ella Leeper, runs the business now. The last year has been tough, but they just hired back several people they had to lay off and are getting big orders from out of state now and the future looks good. The machines were running fast and furious when I came by to get the cooks tour.
Sagebrush Technology is expecting a big announcement this week. The military will be deciding on a big contract that could include their gimbles. You don`t know what a gimble is? Sagebrush does. They have standard models and build custom ones for specific customers, too. Gimbles let things like cameras or telescopes turn left to right and also up and down. It`s like a swivel within a swivel. Sagebrush is an employee-owned company that employs 16 people. If the announcement goes well this week, they may be hiring some more.
Eight out of ten new jobs created in the last decade have been in small business. Small business is the engine of economic growth and job creation. We all pay attention to the big numbers and they matter. But big numbers are made up of small achievements in businesses like Desert Paper and Sagebrush. I`m glad I got to spend some time with them.
Wish you were here,
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